


Angus McDonald and the Mysterious Murder

by Infinite_Finals_Week



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angus dies :(, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Its the inciting incident :(, Lemon bars, M/M, Murder Mystery, Post-Canon, Reaper Squad Shenaniganry, both more and less serious than the title suggests
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25273969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infinite_Finals_Week/pseuds/Infinite_Finals_Week
Summary: Angus McDonald is Faerun's twelve-year-old star detective. His family also happens to be emissaries of the Raven Queen, and every night around the dinner table, Angus helps them solve their most baffling death crimes.One day, though, Angus himself ends up dead, and it's up to all of them to try to figure out who the culprit might be - it’s classic Angus McDonald!
Relationships: Angus McDonald & Everyone, Barry Bluejeans/Lup, Kravitz/Taako (The Adventure Zone)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

Angus goes to sleep in the guest bedroom of Lup and Barry's house and wakes up somewhere he doesn’t recognise with vague memories of a quickly fading dream. He doesn't feel tired - in fact, there's a good five minutes where he doesn't feel anything (which would be worrying if he could feel) and he just takes in the information his brain is being provided.

He is sitting in a waiting room with grey walls and a grey carpeted floor. The coffee table is grey. The door is grey. He knows that light cannot be grey but the single dim bulb hanging from the top of the room certainly  _ feels _ grey. The only thing that isn't grey (including the magazines on the coffee table) is the chair he's sitting in, which is a dark blue. He reaches for one of the magazines, a Fantasy  _ Highlights _ , and flips through it. Other than being monochromatic, it seems pretty normal- it's dated for a few months back, but that's something to be expected for waiting rooms.

He knows that:

  1. He was moved in his sleep. Probably not by any member of his family.
  2. He’s not tied down, which means whoever it is probably doesn’t expect or isn’t worried about him putting up much of a fight. Or they were out of tying-down material.
  3. The air is cold. He might be underground? Another ready alternative is that someone has been going ham on the air conditioning, which wouldn’t make a lot of sense considering it’s nearing the end of Fantasy October.



He gets up, stretches, and walks to the door opposite him. He presses his ear against it. Nothing. Not for the first time, he curses his human hearing. Angus reaches for the doorknob, finding that it turns easily, and lets the door swing open. The room revealed looks like a stereotypical principal’s office. There’s a large window behind a desk piled high with paperwork. Sitting at that desk is a middle-aged woman in a pantsuit. Her hands are clasped on the desk in front of her and she smiles a little too wide. Angus takes in her perfectly manicured nails and her blonde bob. Angus knows who this is. 

This is Susan.

“Angus, sweetie! How are you doing? Come here, sit down.” Her voice is disgustingly saccharine. Angus sits down in the chair across from her. “I’m  _ Miss Susan. _ I’ve heard so much about you! It’s nice to finally meet, even if it’s not under the best circumstances.”

He must be dead, then. He knows he should be more worried, and this time he feels the enchantment take hold of him - he  _ can’t  _ be concerned about his death. “Good morning, miss.” He says curtly, extending a hand to shake. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

Susan laughs. “It’s not morning, though I do suppose you wouldn’ t remember that. Why, it’s quite late into the night.”

“Wouldn’t- remember?” Angus asks.

“No, of course not! We erase the memories of the last day of a person’s life once they die. As it turns out, the whole process of ‘dying’,” She laughs again. “Is just a little  _ traumatic _ , you know how it is! You can have the memories back, of course, but most people opt just to have a summary. Yours should be-,” She reaches for the top of a pile of papers on her desk and frowns when she looks at it. “No- this is Richie Swanson. Hm. Hang on.” She sorts through her desk, disrupting a fair amount of it in the process until she finds a sheet with his name on it, which she slides over to him. “I just need you to make sure all of this information is correct.”

Angus looks down at the paper and blinks. “Miss, I don’t read abyssal.” 

Susan snatches it up. “It’s- but that means it’s my copy, and- there’s no memories here. That’s not _possible_. You’re certain you don’t read abyssal?”

“I mean- yes?” Angus says, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his khakis. 

Susan pulls a stone of farspeech and a lemon bar from a drawer in her desk. She hands the lemon bar to Angus, who starts to nibble on it. “Barry Bluejeans,” she says into her stone, and it only rings for a second before Barry picks up. 

“You better have a damn good reason for calling. I’m  _ dealing  _ with something right now.” He growls, uncharacteristically aggressive.

“Well, dear, calm down a bit and I’ll explain. It’s your boy- Angus McDonald! What a sweetheart- I’ve only known him for a few minutes, of course, but-,” Susan laughs again, but is cut off by Barry.

“What’s wrong with Angus?” He says. It’s difficult to fully discern tone through a stone of farspeech, but he sounds panicked. 

“He’s here with me, but I think he might be having just a little bit of trouble passing over. His memories aren’t transferring.”

Barry sighs. “I’m sending- Lup. She’ll be there.” He hangs up at the same time Angus finishes his lemon bar (he's definitely been spoiled with good food since beginning to alternate living with Lup and Taako, but he can tell that even by normal standards it was not a good lemon bar).

“Well, sweetheart. Have you ever thought about where you might have liked to live when you were older?” Susan asks, shifting around her papers some more until she finds whatever form she’s looking for. “No crimes on your record, so you could live, well- almost anywhere you want! The Sea of Souls isn’t just some sort of swirling puddle of people, you know! You could live in the city, near the Queen’s castle, the mountains, the country, there’s a nice la-,”

Lup portals into the room. She’s in her skeletal reaper form, scythe in hand. She would be terrifying if Angus weren’t so used to the sight. “Angus?” She switches to her regular elf form. “What- what happened?” Lup’s voice is shaky, weak. Like she’s been crying. “Com’ere,”

“Well, that’s just the problem!” Susan chirps. “We don’t know!”

Angus gets up and walks towards her. Once he’s close enough, he pulls her to her, wrapping him in a hug. “You’re all here. Everything should be-,” Her voice catches in her throat. She turns to Susan. “Everything should be fine.”

“He’s not fully crossed over, or  _ someone  _ \- I don’t know who, mind - has been  _ fucking with my sheets.  _ So figure it out!” 

Lup looks like she wants to say something, but she shakes her head. “Don’t curse in front of my kid. I’ll work on it. Angus, we’re going to the processing department.”

“Tell Michael I said hi?” Susan asks.

“I’m not talking to-,” Lup glances down at Angus. “Mr. McMike. See you, Susie.” She takes Angus’s hand and walks out, down an equally grey hallway lined with a seemingly endless row of doors. 

Angus and Lup walk in silence for a few minutes. Angus pulls a fidget spinner out of his pocket and begins fussing with it. They turn a few times until they come to a four-way split, and Lup stops. She breathes in deeply, a shuddering breath.

“Angus, we- we’re not gonna let- you’re not going to end up in the Sea. Not yet. No, no, not yet. Angus, Angus, come on. We’re going this way.” She yanks him down one of the hallways, walking faster now, speeding up until the two of them are running. Then they stop abruptly at a door painted with bright orange flames. “This is my room.” She says. She sounds considerably better. “You can tell from how cool it is. We’re gonna hide you in here until, uh- everyone in the astral plane forgets you’re supposed to be dead? It shouldn’t take that long, plenty of people die every day.”

“What then?” Angus asks.

Lup is sorting through her keys. “Then we get you back to the material plane.” She opens the door and Angus walks in. 

“Isn’t that a death crime?” 

“Death crime shmeth crime, I’m a reaper! I can commit as many death crimes as I want.”

“I know for a fact that’s not true.” Angus says, looking around Lup’s room. Scattered about are various books on necromancy, a full wardrobe of clothing, and two dozen paper plates. There are flame decals on  _ everything _ .

“Still, it’s not you who committed the crime. And the Raven Queen likes me, so I’ll be fine.”

“I’d be an accomplice, though.”

“No! Angus! Stop being logical! I’ll teach you, uh- do you know Aganazzar’s Scorcher yet? That one’s pretty- pretty sick.” 

“Ma’am,” Angus says, staring straight up at her.

“No, no, I know.” Lup collapses onto her couch. “But I’ll figure it out. We’ll get you and Taako back to the material plane in no time.”

“Mr. Taako?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine.” Lup says. “It’s fine, it’s fine, I’ll figure it out.” She sounds more like she’s trying to convince herself than Angus. “He’ll be a-okay in no time at all, that’s how it always works out.”

“Misses Lup, what’s going on?” Angus asks, sitting down next to her.

“I don’t know- I-,” Lup’s voice, usually strong and sharp, becomes more nasal, and her words blend into each other. “It’s like he’s stuck, and we can’t get him- get him out? He’s-,” She brings a fist down onto her thigh with a sharp crack. “Stuck. In the Ethereal- Ethereal Plane, and he’s not dead but he’s also not- not  _ alive _ \- gods, gods- I don’t  _ know. _ ”

“Is there anything-,” Angus pauses. “What can I do?”

Lup looks up at the ceiling, blinking furiously. “I’ll, I’ll call Barry and he can watch you. Then I’m gonna go help Krav.” She breathes in and out slowly. “Yeah.”

“Yeah.” Angus nods solemnly. 

“Alright,” Lup stands, takes another deep breath, and lets herself laugh a little. “I’m gonna go. You stay here- no mischief, okay?”

Angus rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest overdramatically. “O _ kay _ , I  _ guess. _ ”

Lup laughs. “A kid after my own heart.” Then she leaves him alone in the room. 

He pulls a notepad and pen out of his back pocket and begins to write down everything he knows.


	2. Chapter 2

Angus gets about twenty minutes to mull over what little information he has before Barry comes in. Barry looks anxious, which isn’t uncommon for him, but there’s something in the way he balls his robe up, twisting it around his hands before he lets it fall into its natural position again that suggests he’s more on edge than usual. 

“Hey, kiddo.” He moves in a way that makes it seem like he’s about to sit next to Angus before deciding against it and leaning against the wall opposite him. “How’s, uh, school?”

“It’s good? I don’t- what? I’m  _ dead. _ ” There’s a long, tense silence.

“Fantasy jesus, Angus.” Barry sighs, recondsidering his decision to sit on the couch. “You have to understand that I’m not supposed to tell you anything- the less people know about the Astral Plane, the harder it is for them to break out- but, you- you already know way more than you should, ughhh-,” He buries his face in his hands. Then, suddenly, he jolts upright. “We’re breaking you out already though, so it’s fine. It’s fine. Thank the gods. Okay, so, here’s the deal.” He summons a blackboard in front of them and pulls a peice of chalk from his robes.

“Do you just always have that?” Angus asks.

“Uh-maybe? Anyway-,” He draws a large circle on the board, and another one slightly inside it so that it looks almost layered. “So these- are the Astral and Ethereal Planes.” He scribbles a few more circles, labeling them ‘Reception’, ‘Processing’, ‘Castle’, and ‘Sea’. “And here is you, entering through the Ethereal Plane and into the Astral.” He draws a stick figure on the outside and an arrow inwards, to ‘Reception’. “You end up in Reception first, that’s where you met-,” he draws another stick figure. “Susan. Receptionists are notified when they’re supposed to get a new soul and when they don’t they tell Lup, Kravitz, and I- anyhow, this is where things get sticky, because Susan should have sent you directly down to Processing, and you would’ve ended up in the Sea of Souls.”

“But she didn’t, because my memories were missing.”

“Exactly. The only people who could mess with the arrival of death memories are Receptionists themselves and  _ extremely  _ powerful necromancers. Whatever you were involved in, we need to figure out what happened so we can stop it from ever happening again. And we need to figure it out quickly, because when Processing receives someone, they send a notification back to the Receptionist in charge of that person, and if Susan doesn’t get that soon, she’s going to come searching.”

“And what if she does?”

“It won’t be hard for her to find us- there are only three reapers, and it’s no secret that it’s the best job in this whole place. Supposedly, people have been clambering to get Kravitz in trouble since forever. If there’s a chance it’ll land the three of us in hot water, they’ll be falling over themselves trying to help her. If they get ahold of you, there’s not much we  _ can _ do besides request a hearing with the Raven Queen, and while of course Her Avian Magesty Is Infinitely Fair- she’s of the opinion that rules are rules and deaths are deaths- even when it can be proven that a person did absolutely nothing to deserve their death by necromancy, most of the time they stay dead anyway. We have to get you out and hidden ASAP.”

“What do you know about Mr. Taako?” Angus asks, not expecting to get much more than what Lup gave him but willing to try.

“Taako’s around here,” Barry says, tapping the edge of the Ethereal Plane close to the Astral. “And it’s not as though his soul is just hanging out, either. We found it and it’s putting out massive amounts of energy trying to get through to the Astral Plane. If it weren’t for that, I’d say it’s possible that his soul is still tied to the Bond Engine, but we were never concious while we were dead, and Taako  _ definitely  _ is. There’s something holding it back, powerful magic. It’s not specifically necromantic, but it definitely comes from the death d-,” There’s a knock on the door. “Hide!” Barry whispers sharply, and Angus darts into Lup’s bedroom. He hears Barry open the door, then the grimly darling voice of Susan.

“Her Magesty would like to see you right away, on matters of  _ criminal activity _ .” She says, and Angus’s heart drops to his stomach.

“We’re not doing a crime. Technically, we’re already doing a crime right now by investigating while there’s still signs of other things going on right now. It’s just, you know- jaywalking, not  _ murder _ . Which is equivalent to what you’re suggesting, by the way!”

Lup and Kravitz are searching through a dingy cave that serves as the ex-hidout for a group of death criminals of some unidentifiable kind. They’re supposed to be hunting down other various death criminals from around Faerûn, but based on his current location in the Ethereal Plane, this was the site of Taako’s death.

“What I’m suggesting is, in fact, the literal, actual, legitimate opposite of murder.” Lup says. “And -no, okay, but Krav, Krav? Listen. Are you listening? Hi? Hello? Are you listening? It’s _Angus_. It is _Angus_ though.”

Kravitz lets out a long-suffering sigh. “I know it’s Angus. I know. But frankly? This seems like a pretty open and shut case- these people kidnapped Taako and Angus, screwed whatever their ritual was pretty badly, and then we showed up and blasted them to bits. Sure, we could demand a hearing before Her Majesty on the basis that it  _ is  _ some form of necromancy, but, well,” He pauses to light a book he’d finished flipping through on fire. “People die in rituals like this every day. It’s not uncommon for some aspect of it to get flipped upside down and result in troubles crossing over. Sure, it’s been a long time since it was this bad, but there’s nothing exceptional about it.”

“Crattes and Morrison? These are completely diffrent schools, people up here are fuckin’ lunatics.” Lup says, scanning the covers of a few tomes. “Completely whack, if I weren’t seeing it with my own eyes I’d say they’d never have been able to pull of anything remotely like this.” She slips a book into the robe she still wears under her cloak before lighting an entire stack of tomes with a Fireball. “The Queen  _ better  _ let us have a hearing. If she doesn’t, I’m going to take my husband and my brother and my boy and I’m going to move away and call her ‘that bird bitch’ for the rest of my life. What’s she gonna do, send  _ you  _ after me?”

“That’s blasphemy,” 

“ _ And? _ I’m not afraid of getting smited- wait.”

“Smitten? No, that’s not-,”

“Smote?”

“It must be smote.”

“I’m not afraid of getting smote. The only thing I’m afraid of is nothing. I’m not even afraid of fear, because it’ll never happen to me. RQ can eat my entire ass. The whole th-,” 

The floor opens up and the two of them fall a few feet onto the cold floor of the Raven Queen’s throne room. 

“Okay, so maybe I’m a little afraid of getting smote,” She whispers to Kravitz. He’s shaking like a wind chime in a hurricane. 

In front of them there is, of course, the Queen’s throne, gigantic and onyx. The floor is smooth black and white marble, and from the ceiling there hangs what is surely the biggest chandelier on any plane. At the moment, however, a relatively person-sized Raven Queen is sitting at a dark green fold-out card table in the middle of the floor. Also at the card table are Istus and Pan, who sit awkwardly exchanging glances at one another while a human man who Lup is pretty sure works in Processing speaks with the Queen. Susan throws open the door behind them as best someone a tenth its height might be able to and clicks in, accompanied by a nervous-looking Barry.

The Raven Queen dismisses the man with a simple “ _Thank you, Martin,_ ” before beckoning to her reapers. When the three of them reach her, Kravitz does a little bow, still clearly shaking. Istus reaches over and gives him a pat on the shoulder, effectively tie-dying the sleeve of his shirt.

“Thank, uh, thank you,” He says, for lack of a better response. Istus laughs.

“If this is about what I said, I’d like to remind you that when we first made this deal where I become like, a super-cool lich hunter, I did tell you that I was going to say a lot of things and that you can’t take all of them seriously. I did say that.” Lup says, glad for her experience not cowering under similar circumstances.

“I’ve been told,” The Queen begins, standing. She’s tall, now, towering above them even as Pan and Istus remain seated at the same height. “That you, Lup, have neglected to bring one of the dead to Processing so that they might be incorporated into the Sea of Souls and instead elected to bring the deceased to the room that I provided you upon your pledging your service to me.”

“I mean. Yeah. But it’s like- necromancy, y’know? Y’know? You know. You know?”

“I  _ do  _ know about necromancy.” The Raven Queen nods. “I assume, however, you are referring to something more specific than just necromancy.”

“Angus is a  _ kid.  _ Other than hanging out with me and Barry and Kravitz- who you  _ know  _ keeps us in check when we talk about necromancy- he’s never gotten involved! It  _ wasn’t  _ his time! And I meant it, what I said! I’m not afraid of dying if it means I’m protecting my family. My boy is dead and my brother is close and you are going to stand there and tell me that that is the way the world works, and I  _ know!  _ But it’s not fair, and I won’t stand for it! I’m fully willing to break the rules if they’re not fair!” Lup is fuming now. Bouts of flame curl up her arms and she stomps her foot. “I’ll do everything in my power to make sure my family lives to see another day, and if you have a problem with that you can  _ fuck off! _ I don’t  _ care! _ ” She turns to leave but is blocked by a swarm of ravens, so she sits down on the floor, facing pointedly away from the Queen, and crosses her arms over her chest.

“Your brother? The wizard Taako?” The Raven Queen’s eyes glaze over. She seems unabashed, as though it is common for any elf to come into her throne room and yell at her during her round of card after the queen. “He does graze my domain, doesn’t he? He’s being held by some facet of my own power, hold on-,” She blinks, and Taako’s body falls into the room. He’s shaking violently as he looks up at them.

“ _ Fuck, _ ” He intones, and then he’s out like a light.


	3. Chapter 3

If there’s one thing that Angus has learned in his years of detective work it’s that what matters when going somewhere you’re not supposed to is looking like you know exactly what you’re doing. It doesn’t matter that a few people had spotted him as he walked through the hallway, trying to remember how to get back to Susan’s office- what mattered was that he looked like he belonged there. He projected purpose as he walked down row after row of identical hallways, looking for a door with Susan’s name on it. 

When he finally finds one, he pushes it open, thankful that it’s not locked. He didn’t have his lockpicking tools on him at the moment, and if he couldn’t get the door open he would’ve risked himself for nothing. It takes a couple tries, but he gets a hold on a Light spell fairly easily. 

The dim light makes the shadows in the room stretch and dance across the walls, and Angus shudders. It hasn’t gotten any warmer since he was last in here, that’s for sure. Barry’s words play through his head again. “ _ The only people who could mess with the arrival of death memories are Receptionists themselves and extremely powerful necromancers.” _ He begins to rifle through the papers on Susan’s desk, making sure to replace them exactly where he left them- though it doesn’t quite seem that Susan would notice if he didn’t- there doesn’t appear to be any sort of rhyme or reason to the ordering of them. 

“Fitzroy Maplecourt, Aubrey Little, Argonaut Keene,” He murmurs to himself as he flips sheets over in his hands. “Edmund Chicane, Rainer Michelle- Angus McDonald!” Unfortunately it’s just that same block of unreadable abyssal. There’s a post-it note that comes off as he brings it up to his face, and he quickly snatches it up, but all that’s on it is a frowny face. 

He begins to open the drawers in the desk, looking for a second post-it, finding one that contains the paper squares- these particular ones Susan is using are a bright pink- and a stack of receipts. At the top of the stack is one that lists the shop name as The Green Rune- she bought a few books, including one Angus has seen on one of the shelves in Lup and Barry’s house. He quickly writes all of the titles on his notepad - Azzath _ , The Ascent to Power _ , Crates,  _ Dynamics in Negative Magic,  _ Tattepe,  _ 100 More Things Not to Make a Phylactery _ , along with several similar titles.

He spends a few more minutes searching through the drawers, but finds nothing of any apparent significance. He’s about to leave the room again when he spots Taako’s name on one of the files. This one, unlike his, is in common. Under “Cause of Death”, it lists blood loss and then a name. Angus glances around, as though expecting employees of the Astral Plane to crawl from the shadows and give him a thousand years in the Stockade before stuffing the file down his shirt. The edges scratch at him, but he can deal with the discomfort. 

He listens for footsteps in the hallway, then slips out of the door and rushes back to Lup’s room.

Taako itches. Taako itches down to the marrow of his bones. Taako’s brain itches, like it’s being stung by a thousand wasps everywhere all at once, but instead of being painful it just itches and itches and itches and  _ itches.  _ And it doesn’t stop itching. And he wishes he could strip the skin from his bones, but he can’t seem to  _ find  _ his skin. He wants to rip and tear and pull until he is nothing but a bloody pulp but he has a feeling that even then he would still feel the simmering ache and the incessant need to scratch until there is nothing left. When he comes tumbling onto the floor of the Raven Queen’s throne room, his body immediately decides he needs a  _ break.  _

Lup is at his side in an instant. “What’s wrong with him?” She snaps up at the Raven Queen.

The Supreme Monarch Over Death slowly sighs. “Nothing. Not anymore. As far as crossing over is concerned, he is completely dead.”

“What  _ was  _ wrong with him?” Barry asks. 

“I did not take the time to figure that out, although I can make the assumption that he was being held there through someone harnessing a part of my power.”

“That’s nothing. We knew that.” Lup says, shaking Taako a little.

“Thank you, for that  _ most helpful  _ information, your Avian Majesty!” Kravitz says quickly. 

“Nice save,” Pan chuckles, gathering up the cards and beginning to deal half to himself and to Istus. “Real subtle.”

“It is fine.” The Raven Queen says. “As I am contractually obligated to call her when providing compliments, ‘the cool reaper’ was very moving. If the three of you can provide enough evidence to prove that both Taako and Angus McDonald were victims of unprovoked necromancy, I will release their souls back to the Material Plane.” 

All three of them brighten considerably. “Thank the gods,” Barry says. “We can do that.”

“You’re welcome.” Istus says, snatching up one of Pan’s cards as she wins the round of war.

“If, however, you cannot provide such evidence, I will be forced to keep them here, and if any of you try to break them out,” The Raven Queen shoots a pointed look at Lup. “Rest assured I will lock the both of them in the Eternal Stockade for a very long time. You have two hours.”

Susan, who had mostly managed to fade into the background, squeaks indignantly. “My Queen, those are not the  _ rules. _ ”

“Hmmm. Yes, well.” She sits back down with Pan and Istus, glances at the reapers and the receptionist. “Again, you have two hours.”

They’re stirred into action as Lup Levitates Taako’s body and walks out into the hallway, followed by Kravitz and Barry. There’s not a word spoken between them until they reach Lup’s room. She dumps Taako into a chair Magnus gave her and collapses onto her sofa. “Angus!” She calls, and he appears in the doorway of her bedroom.

“Mrs. Lup!” He chirps. “You’ll never believe what I’ve found, I was-,  _ is that Mr. Taako? _ ” He scurries over to Taako. 

“Is it my hot pockets? I’ve been looking all over for those. And, yeah, it’s Taako.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, he’ll be fine. Also, this is blatant favoritism, which is illegal when it comes to twins so you better quit that.”

“Unless your favourite twin is Lup.” Barry amends. 

“Oh yeah, then it’s fine.” Lup laughs. 

“Speaking of illegal-,” Angus says. “What’s the situation?”

“We have to prove both you and Taako died from unprovoked necromancy.” Barry says.

“By her Deathly Majesty, what are we going to do?” Kravitz sighs. He’s emitting more black smoke than usual, which, while it does make him look more badass, is a telltale sign of nervousness. 

“Proving it’s necromancy will be easy.” Lup says. “That place was packed full with necromancy books. It looked like they’d just raided a Graverobbers R Us.”

Angus pulls Taako’s file out of his shirt. “I found this is Susan’s office.” He says. “Along with a receipt that listed a bunch of books she bought that looked like they were probably about necromancy.”

“You broke into Susan’s office?” Kravitz asks. 

“That’s my boy!” Lup crows, patting him firmly on the back before getting stern. “Don’t do anything like that ever again.”

“Did you take the receipt?” Barry asks. 

“No, but I listed the books-here.” Angus tears the sheet of paper from his notepad and hands it over. Barry nods.

“These are absolutely books on necromancy- Crates developed one of the main divisions-,”

“Not that you should know that,” Kravitz mutters.

Lup pulls a book from her robes. “There’s a Crates on there? Is it this? We found it at the site of Taako’s death.”

“It is, gods-,” Barry curses. “Unfortunately it’s not an uncommon book, so it’s not any real proof of anything.”

“You know what is uncommon, though?” Lup taps a name. “There are only five copies of anything by Azzath. If we find one of those back at the site, that’s real suspicious..”

“And- By the Queen, I hate that I’m contributing to your obscure necromancer knowledge conversation-,” Kravitz sighs. “But I know enough to know these books are on wildly different subjects, and Lup didn’t you say something about that while we were searching the place earlier?”

Lup turns and launches a Fire Bolt at her wall in excitement. “Hell yeah! Angus, don’t repeat that- it’s all coming together, boys. To the site of the murder!”


End file.
